


Flustered Snake

by Izzyfandoms



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26450248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzyfandoms/pseuds/Izzyfandoms
Summary: Janus was having an interesting day.The other sides were acting strange, touching him and talking to him in ways they didn't usually. If he didn't know any better, he'd think they were... flirting with him.But that couldn't be the case, right?
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders/Thomas Sanders
Comments: 11
Kudos: 293





	Flustered Snake

The moment that Janus stepped into the living area of the mindscape, a pair of hands behind him landed on his hips. He froze in place, immediately feeling the heat of a blush crawl up his neck, across his face and to the tips of his ears. He was sure that his skin was now an obvious, bright red.  
  
The voice that belonged to the pair of hands cackled at that, and a chin came to rest on Janus's head, revealing it to be Remus behind him.  
  
(Unfortunately, the twins were much taller than Janus, and they both loved to take advantage of it: especially when it flustered the deceitful side, as it often did. He both despised and adored that fact, not that he'd ever admit to the latter out loud.)  
  
That made Janus relax slightly - he recognised the voice, so it wasn't somehow a stranger with their hands on his hips - though his creeping blush only worsened.  
  
"You seem flustered, snake," he said, and Janus could practically hear the grin in his voice. "What's up?"  
  
"Shut up," Janus hissed, crossing his arms.  
  
He didn't move out of Remus's grip, though, and instead leant back against the other side's chest. Remus then gently squeezed his hips, and Janus almost regretted staying in place.  
  
"Comfy?"  
  
"We are standing in the living room."  
  
Remus chuckled - the sound low and just beside Janus's ear, rumbling through his whole body.  
  
"We could always move to somewhere comfier," Remus grinned. "Like my bed."  
  
Janus huffed and rolled his eyes. "In your dreams."  
  
"All my dreams. Day and night. Wanna recreate them?"  
  
"Never."  
  
"You know, I'm talking 'bout fu-"  
  
"I know what you're talking about," Janus hissed, feeling his face somehow redden even further. "And no."  
  
Janus could practically hear Remus's pout.  
  
"Aw, but-"  
  
"No! Shut up!"  
  
"Make me?" Remus offered.  
  
Janus groaned, and buried his face in his hands.  
  
***  
  
It had taken quite a few minutes, but Janus had finally managed to distract Remus with food - disgusting and rotten, inedible food - and gotten away.  
  
(If he'd really wanted Remus to stop flirting with him, and had just made the simple request, Remus would have done so with little hesitation. But Janus's obvious blush and moments of almost returned flirtations had only spurred the other side on.)  
  
(Janus could flirt. In the past he had smoothly and calmly flirted with the other sides on numerous occasions, but the moment they flirted back, he was done for. They had only now begun to take advantage of this, and Janus couldn't for the life of him figure out why.)  
  
He was halfway across the mindscape's long hallway - halfway to his bedroom, where he could wallow in his flustered state in peace - when he was stopped in his tracks by Logan's voice behind him.  
  
"Janus, are you busy?"  
  
Janus suppressed a sigh.  
  
"Obviously," he clearly lied, starting to turn around. "What do you nee-"  
  
The last word was cut off by a strangled noise (accompanied with widening eyes and a sharp intake of breath) as his eyes landed on the very shirtless Logan standing in front of him. He was... more in shape that Janus had expected, but perhaps that shouldn't have been a surprise given his obsession with being as healthy as possible.  
  
Janus tried very hard not to check him out, but was unable to keep his eyes from drifting down, and then back up, and then back down again. He sucked in a breath as he felt his ears warm.  
  
Logan straightened up, his expression turning quite pleased. Before Janus could question him further, he pulled a notebook and pen out of thin air - summoning them effortlessly - and began to scribble on one of the pages, about halfway through.  
  
Janus watched him, thoroughly confused and still - somewhat reluctantly - checking Logan out. Then, when Logan closed the notebook and it disappeared again, the logical side smiled at him: genuine and warm, such an uncommon sight.  
  
It made Janus's face warm and his heart tremble, which was far more telling than the reaction to shirtless Logan.  
  
"Thank you, Janus," Logan said. "That was all I needed."  
  
Then, he sank out, and Janus was left alone, confused, and still - unfortunately - quite flustered.  
  
***  
  
After that, he spent a significant amount of time in his room, wallowing in his hopeless, hopeless pining.  
  
(Remus was only joking. The interaction with Logan was only part of some experiment. Surely those were the real explanations for the two frankly baffling experiences from today, right?)  
  
When he finally decided to leave the room, it was only because he was hungry. Remus's onslaught of sexual flirting had distracted him from breakfast, so he was rather eager to get something to eat.  
  
Luckily, when he arrived in the kitchen, Remus wasn't there.  
  
But Patton was, and the delighted smile on his face when Janus entered the room was just as disastrous to his heartrate as Remus had been.  
  
"Jan!" He beamed, dropping the spoon and bowl he'd been washing up and walking over, taking both of Janus's hands in his own. "I'm so glad you're here!"  
  
It was then that Janus realised he'd forgotten his gloves.  
  
The warmth of Patton's hands against his skin and scales was enough to make him feel equally warm and fuzzy inside. He was suddenly hit with the desire to make that warmth spread to every part of his body, and in that moment, he really, really wanted to kiss Patton.  
  
"What- what do you need, Patton?" He asked slowly.  
  
Patton squeezed his hands. "I just made cookies! And I need someone to test them for me. Would you mind?"  
  
"Oh, uh... alright."  
  
Patton beamed.  
  
Then, he dropped Janus's hands, and the deceitful side would never admit to the disappointment that rose in his chest at the loss of warmth. He watched as Patton plucked a cookie from the plate - carefully selecting what he deemed the best one, before turning back around and bringing it back to Janus.  
  
Janus reached out, ready to take the cookie from his hand, but Patton shook his head, holding up the cookie to Janus's lips.  
  
Janus blinked, dropping his hand and then slowly opening his mouth obediently, taking a small bite of the cookie. It was good, as always - warm and chewy and his absolute favourite flavour.  
  
Patton giggled. "You like them?" At Janus's silent nod, he continued. "Oh, wonderful! I'm so glad!"  
  
Janus swallowed, and opened his mouth to respond, but the words died in his throat when Patton leant forward and brushed his thumb over Janus's lip. His brain short-circuited for a few seconds as his face went hot, but then he realised that Patton had probably just been brushing a crumb from his mouth, and that it wasn't something he should've been worried about.  
  
Patton's smile turned slightly mischievous, and he giggled again.  
  
"Everything alright, Janus?"  
  
***  
  
Janus had returned to his room shortly after that little encounter. He'd mumbled excuses that Patton had seemed to believe - though the disappointment on his face when Janus left had been unmistakable.  
  
He fell back onto his bed, dropping his head onto his pillow and burying his face into his hands.  
  
What was going on today? Remus and Logan and Patton were all acting strange, and Janus couldn't get them out of his head.  
  
Or maybe Janus was the strange one.  
  
He was the one with the huge, perception-altering crushes on all of his friends - Thomas included.  
  
Janus huffed, dropping his arms to his sides and staring up at the ceiling. There were little plastic stars - made by Roman many years ago - stuck all over it, that glowed in the dark when it was night.  
  
Janus hadn't been afraid of the dark since they were all small, but he still kept the stars there out of habit.  
  
(And out of love for Roman, though that part he would never admit aloud.)  
  
There was a loud knock on the door, and Janus jumped, sitting up suddenly and staring at it, wide-eyed. He froze for a moment, before he grabbed his gloves off his bedside table and quickly pulled them back on. He put his hat on, too.  
  
He got up, and walked over to the door.  
  
When he opened it, he immediately came face-to-face with Roman, whose whole face lit up when his eyes landed on Janus.  
  
(And, oh, that really did something to Janus, didn't it? He felt all warm and fuzzy inside - the way Roman was looking at him making him feel like he was floating.)  
  
He felt his face warm, and the greeting he'd meant to say died in his throat as the blush formed.  
  
Roman laughed suddenly: loud and cheerful and delighted, and it made Janus jump. His heart skipped a beat in his chest and he felt simultaneously confused and happy, as Roman's laugh was contageous.  
  
"Well, that was easy!" Roman beamed.  
  
"I- uh- what?"  
  
But before Janus could question Roman properly, Roman reached forward and grabbed Janus's face in both hands. He then pressed a kiss to the centre of Janus's forward.  
  
Janus let out a strangled noise as Roman let go of him and took a step back.  
  
"Thank you, Jan," he said earnestly.  
  
Then, he sunk out, leaving Janus incredibly confused, and even more flustered, ready to melt into a puddle on the floor.  
  
***  
  
It took a few hours for Janus to gain the courage to leave his room again after that.  
  
But, when he did, he found the living room of the mindscape suddenly quite cold. He stood in the centre of the room, rubbing his arms and shivering, as the yellow button-up shirt he had on was far too thin, and he regretted choosing that over his usual outfit that morning.  
  
"Okay," he huffed. "Whose idea was this?"  
  
"I know, right?" Suddenly came a voice from behind him. "It's freezing."  
  
Janus glanced back over his shoulder, his eyes landing on Virgil, who was stood a few feet behind him.  
  
"You cold?" Virgil continued.  
  
"No," Janus lied flatly.  
  
Virgil snorted. "Right."  
  
Then, he did something that Janus couldn't have predicted. He took off his hoodie.  
  
This was peculiar for two reasons - one, that the mindscape was cold, and two, that Virgil almost never took off his hoodie, and never without a good reason.  
  
Janus blinked at him, so surprised that he stopped rubbing his goosebump-covered arms. Then, his eyes widened further as Virgil held the hoodie out to him.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
Virgil rolled his eyes, though fondly and with a half-smirk.  
  
"Giving you my jacket," he answered.  
  
"But- what? Why?"  
  
"I heard snakes are cold-blooded."  
  
Janus huffed, attempting to glare at Virgil but failing miserably. Virgil seemed amused at his attempts, which made it even harder to glare at him, because Janus wanted to kiss that smirk right off his face.  
  
"I don't need your jacket," Janus lied.  
  
(He would very much appreciate Virgil's jacket, for many reasons, but he obviously could never admit that aloud.)  
  
Virgil snorted. But, instead of responding to that, he walked up to Janus and draped his hoodie over the other sides' shoulders. Janus froze, especially as Virgil's touch lingered longer than it could have, and Janus could suddenly feel himself warm.  
  
His cheeks went hot, likely turning red.  
  
Virgil caught Janus's eye, and the slight smirk returned for just a moment.  
  
"Hope you warm up," he said, before turning and walking out of the room, his hands in the pockets of his jeans, leaving Janus warm, alone and very confused.  
  
***  
  
Janus's confusion had only grown when Thomas suddenly summoned him for no good reason.  
  
Usually, he summoned his sides for videos, and the rest of the time they showed up on their own. He liked to spend time with them, sure, but usually either with all of them, or when the sides showed up first.  
  
Janus appeared in the sitting room.  
  
"Thomas," he said. "What do you need?"  
  
Thomas was sat on the couch, leaning back against the cushions, and his face lit up when he saw Janus, which made Janus feel all kinds of things, and made him almost wish he was the side in charge of Thomas's feelings, so he could know exactly what he was feeling.  
  
(The sides may have all been able to see through Thomas's eyes and hear through ears, but none of them had access to everything that went on inside his head. They each had their own different parts. Virgil knew his anxieties, Patton knew his feelings, Janus knew his lies and the secrets and desires he hid from even himself. None knew everything, even when they might want to.)  
  
"Oh, Janus!" Thomas smiled. "You're here!" He patted the couch beside him, indicating that Janus should sit. "Come on, hang out with me."  
  
Janus blinked, sitting down immediately but with a confused expression.  
  
"Do you... need something?"  
  
"Do I need to? Can't I just summon you to hang out?"  
  
"I mean, no, but-" Janus cut himself off with a strangled noise when Thomas reached forward and plucked his hat right off his head.  
  
Then, Thomas placed the hat on his own head with a grin.  
  
"How do I look?"  
  
Janus opened and closed his mouth a few times, stumbling over his words. It took him a moment to pull together a coherent thought that wasn't just the word 'cute' repeated twelve times.  
  
"Uh, um... you look... good?"  
  
Thomas laughed. "Oh, Jan, you flatter me," he joked. Then, he looked Janus over slowly - making him feel all kinds of things - before his gaze settled on Janus's hair. He reached across, running his fingers through it and sticking his tongue out in concentration. "Your hat must mess your hair up a lot, you wear it so much."  
  
"It's- uh, it's messy, usually," Janus choked out. "That's why I wear the hat."  
  
Thomas pulled his hand back, placing it in his lap, and Janus only just managed to keep himself from making a disappointed noise.  
  
"Aww, I don't know, I like it," Thomas said, seemingly oblivious to Janus's plight. "It's a lot curlier than mine, kinda like Patton's but much darker: almost black." Thomas smiled. "I think it's cute."  
  
Janus blinked at him, feeling his face turn hot and red for what felt like the millionth time that day. He buried his face in his hands and groaned.  
  
"Why are you guys like this?" He mumbled into his palms.  
  
"Huh?" Thomas half-laughed, sounding partly amused and partly confused.  
  
"You're just- aah!" Janus almost screamed with frustration. "Making me feel... so much."  
  
"So much what?"  
  
Janus paused at that. He... recognised that tone. It was a tone of faux-innocence, one he'd heard - and, in the past, actively prompted - from Thomas multiple times.  
  
He knew something.  
  
Janus pulled his hands away from face, shooting Thomas an accusatory look that made him hold up his hands in defence.  
  
"You know something," Janus accused, with a still-red face, but significantly more confidence than before. "What is it?"  
  
"Uh..." Thomas trailed off, hesitating, but at Janus's expression, he finally gave in and smiled sheepishly at him. "I may know of a... competition, of sorts."  
  
"Competition?"  
  
"Between the other sides. And, uh... me, too, I guess. We wanted to see who could make you blush the most." For a moment, Thomas paused. "'Cos you're cute."  
  
Janus's brain broke.  
  
He stared blankly at Thomas for a few seconds, before understanding finally hit him like a train, and the blush that had just faded returned again, full-force. He felt hot and flustered and still a little confused, but mostly just startled.  
  
"Oh," he squeaked.  
  
Thomas let out an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his head with his hand and glancing away.  
  
"Sorry, if that's kinda weird," he apologised quickly. "We didn't want to make you uncomfortable, we just really li- you know what, it doesn't matter. I'm sorry."  
  
Janus buried his face in his hands with another loud groan. He mumbled something that Thomas couldn't quite make out. Thomas leant forward, trying to listen better.  
  
"Sorry, what was that?" Thomas asked.  
  
Janus repeated himself, slightly louder.  
  
"It worked," he grumbled.  
  
Thomas laughed, short and slightly startled. "Yeah, we, uh... we figured. You're kinda obvious when you're flustered. And cute."  
  
Janus groaned into his palms again, even louder this time.  
  
"I mean," Thomas continued. "You know they can all see you right now, too, right?"  
  
There was a beat.  
  
"Oh, god."


End file.
